


the sun is rising and i'm still here

by GrayJedi11



Series: diner stories [4]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Diners, Angst, Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders Angst, Diners, Eating Disorders, Food, Gen, Hopeful Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, i dont really know what to tag this as, kind of, sure
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-13
Updated: 2020-08-13
Packaged: 2021-03-06 01:00:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,024
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25874761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GrayJedi11/pseuds/GrayJedi11
Summary: Remus had been there for five hours, running away from his problems. But perhaps this waiter would turn out to be a good friend for him.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders
Series: diner stories [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1706428
Comments: 1
Kudos: 46





	the sun is rising and i'm still here

There was little energy at nearly 5AM at a 2.5 star diner, unsurprising to Virgil. What was surprising was an older teenager that had broken the record of five hours straight spent there. He’d been sitting, rather, lying, at a booth taking sips of what Virgil could only assume was alcohol. It got concerning, however, when he realized it’d been seven hours since this person (who hadn’t bought anything) arrived.

Virgil had gone over to ask them for their order. They’d said “a couple minutes” and proceeded to take much longer.

“Hey, waiter, could I get some, uh, um,” they seemed to struggle to remember what they were asking for, “apple juice.”

Virgil most certainly did not expect “apple juice.”

“Oh, um, sure.”

Virgil poured a glass and set it before the young man, who took the straw and held tight, sipping continuously. He looked up, still drinking, when Virgil still stood with his pen in hand, notepad ready to take an order.

“Oh. Sorry. I guess you’re expecting me to order some food.”   
  


“I mean, if you’re not, that’s fine-”

“I think I will. Maybe not. Dunno. I guess I spent,” he looked at his wrist before realizing he wasn’t wearing a watch, so checked his phone, where Virgil could make out a text message alert that read “remus where are you,” before he put it away, “seven hours or so debating if I should eat. Huh. Didn’t feel that long.”

“Well, even if you ate just before you got here, it’s been seven hours. Couldn’t hurt to eat.”

“Oh, ha, nope. You’ve misunderstood. I don’t  _ want  _ to eat, but I haven’t in a while. Probably should.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, when  _ was  _ the last time you ate?”

“Uh,” he checked his wrist for an imaginary watch again, referring back to his phone, “I guess, like, 27 hours ago?”

Virgil’s eyes widened.

“What do you want? Anything.”

“W-what?”

“You need to eat.”

The man at the table shifted his position to a sitting one, fiddling with his fingers absently.

“I don’t care. I’ll eat something if you give me something, but you really shouldn’t. I don’t deserve it.”

“Why wouldn’t you…”

He realized that the man was probably not the most… mentally healthy in respects to food.

“Oh.”

“Mm. ‘S alright, though, I’ve got this goddamn vodka. Been trying to drink it slowly, at least I managed to make it last this long.”

“...How old are you?”

“Seventeen.”

“Don’t… don’t drink the rest of that.”

Virgil wrapped his fingers around the container, relieved when the teenager’s grip relaxed. He headed to the kitchen, setting the vodka down.

_ Soups and salads are good, right? _

He began preparing both, hoping the customer would actually eat them. 

“Chicken, hmm?”

“I know it’s not… easy, or good to eat very much food after being deprived of it for very long.”

“Well, you’re much nicer than most of the people I know.”

Virgil glanced back at him, finishing up the meal and bringing it over to the table.

“The people I know would probably rather me starve to death.”

“Do you have any way to get away from them?”

Remus sighed, picking up a leaf of lettuce and placing it between his teeth, eating slowly and reluctantly. “Not until next year. Once I go to college, though, I’ll be away from it all. At least my mom wants me out of the house. I did everything I could to live in a dorm.”

“Do you have  _ anyone _ in your life to support you?”

“Uh… I have a singular friend.”

Remus noticed Virgil glaring at his food, so he shoved a piece of chicken into his mouth, abandoning his fork on the table.

“I like to think I’m not too much of an asshole to wish starvation on people, so if you’d like, I could try to help you out. I have a therapist.”

“Are you offering to be genuine social interaction? Because I could really use genuine social interaction.”

“I mean yeah, if you need it. You seem like a pretty cool person.”

“...What?”

“...You just seem like we could be friends.”

“I don’t think anyone’s said anything remotely as nice as that to me in my entire life.”

“Oh. Wow. You  _ do _ need friends.”

“Heh, yeah.”

Remus munched slowly on his salad. Virgil wasn’t sure if he would finish it, but it was at least something. While he ate, Virgil wrote down his phone number for the stranger to take, letting Remus write down his.

“So, I’m making a new friend?”

“Yeah. You are.”

Virgil saw out the window from the corner of his eye, the sky turning slightly red. His shift would be over soon, and he’d either have to leave Remus here or Remus would leave too. He hoped he would eat enough of his salad to have enough energy to get through the day.

“Damn clouds are covering the sun.”

“Oh. Yeah. Although I don’t think it’s a good idea to look at it.”

“It’s probably fine. At least right now.”

Remus took a moment with his head on his hands, watching the clouds pass by the rising sun.

“I’ve really been here all night.”

“Yeah.”

“I need to go to bed.”

Virgil laughed. “Yeah.”

Remus stood up suddenly, looking towards the door. 

“I should probably leave now, shouldn’t I?”

“Why don’t you just stay and take a nap here? I can let you in the back room if you’d like. I mean, why not stay away from the people you hate for a while?”

“...It probably won’t change the amount of their yelling.”

Virgil coaxed him to finish his salad before leading him to the back room, opening and leaving it unlocked for him. He let Remus know he’d be leaving in an hour or so, returning to the kitchen to wash his new friend’s plate.

The sun threw its light over the booths, illuminating them gently and gracefully. Virgil smiled at it, the sunrise prettier than usual. Maybe they were lucky they’d gotten such nice colors, blending and shifting inside the diner.

Maybe it was a sign of hope.


End file.
